Bodice for an altar figure

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This dress and bodice (2009.300.2329) are particularly miniature examples of garments for liturgical effigies. They were created for figures of the Virgin and Child as indicated by the letters on the front and were presumably shown together as they match in every detail. Beautifully constructed, their fine detailing includes applied metallic cord at the hem and piping at neck and waist. The bodice would have been accompanied by a skirt, which is now lost.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art